


The Second Laws

by Chibihaku



Series: Sophie Shepard [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Alternate Origin Story, Elysium, Gen, I despise tagging my own work, Origin Story, skyllian blitz
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-27
Updated: 2014-07-27
Packaged: 2018-02-10 15:50:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2030895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibihaku/pseuds/Chibihaku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The only thing that Shepard has to worry about is that Anderson thinks it's a bad idea for her to be N7. But, well, that's kind of a big thing. It's spoiling her shore leave, just a little. But her worry and annoyance at her commanding officer take a back seat when Elysium is struck by batarian raiders, and Shepard's life turns upside down in more ways than she can ever imagine.</p><p>Now captured by the raiders, she needs to do everything she can to fight back, but there's only so much fight in a person, only so many sacrifices that one person can make before they break for good.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Second Laws

**Author's Note:**

> These events happen pre-Firefly, and reference some backstory events that will happen in said fic. I've tried not to actively spoil anything more than the most open details of her backstory, but Sophie's pre-Elysium history does have it's part to play in this fic.

* * *

**Part One: Acceleration**  

 

_If a force that acts upon a mass is greater than the mass (and any other forces acting on that mass) then acceleration of the mass occurs. Acceleration is equivalent in ratio to the force that acts on a mass, follows the same vector of the force, and is inversely proportional to the mass._

* * *

 

**Audio recording retrieved from the human colony of Elysium, Skyllian Verge; date stamped 2176.**

**_“_ ** _Shepard, unlike certain space farers, I have work tomorrow.”_

_“It’s your fault for telling me to check in, Anderson. I’m just following the commands of my superior officer.”_

_“It’s two in the morning here!”_

_“That’s your own fault for making them crappy orders. I believe your exact words were ‘Tell me the instant you have any sort of news.”_

_“The implication was you’d send a message.”_

_“Implications aren’t orders, Anderson. And besides, you really think I’m going to spend my shore leave writing things down when I can just tell them to you instead?”_

_“You need the practice.”_

_“I need my shore leave more.”_

_“And some of us aren’t_ on _shore leave, Shepard. Some of us can’t answer vid calls in the middle of the goddamn night.”_

_“Temper, Military-Man. Keep yelling like that and all you’ll get is an early grave.”_

_“Call me again at this time of night, Shepard, and I’ll send_ you _to an early grave the instant you get back to Arcturus.”_

_“I think you’ll find they court-martial you for things like that, Anderson.”_

_"Shepard if you're not going to be serious -"_

_"They're making me N7."_

-For convenience purposes, a pause (duration: 15 seconds) has been removed from this recording.-

_"...Anderson?"_

_“They’re going to_ what _?”_

_“They're going to make me N7. Honestly, Anderson, are you going deaf in your old age? Or is it one too many concussive rounds to the head that's the problem?”_

_“Shepard, stop being facetious and behave like a soldier. They’re making you N7? You?”_

_“What, suddenly I’m good enough to be an N5 but not an N7? They gave me the paperwork about an hour ago. They want to start my training when I get back from Elysium.”_

_“I… Shepard, that’s…”_

_“Wonderful, amazing, incredible, a testimony to my talent? Yeah, I know.”_

_“…”_

_“You’re not exactly singing my praises here, Anderson. Kind of what I expected to happen?”_

_“Have you thought about this?”_

_“What?”_

_“Have you thought about this? N7 – Shepard, N7 is a massive responsibility. Are you sure you want that level of commitment?”_

_“…You don’t want me to sign up, do you?”_

_“I – No. Shepard, it’s not that. It’s just – ”_

_“You think I’m not up to it.”_

_“I never said that. I don’t think there’s anyone in this military more capable than you.”_

_“But you don’t want me to join N7.”_

_“You don’t have the best track record when it comes to following orders. Shepard, your basic was_ full _of write-ups and informal counselling. They nearly kicked your punk ass out – twice! You’ve come a long way since then, yes, but N7 – Shepard, if you become an N7 you’re going to get orders that you might not agree with – ”_

 _“Only if they’re_ stupid _orders, Anderson! In basic they wanted me to choose which team to sacrifice to get the mission done. I don’t_ do _that.”_

_“And that’s what N7 is about, Shepard. Sometimes you don’t get a choice where everybody lives. Sometimes you have to choose who lives and who dies. That’s what N7 is. It’s not just more training, more skills, better missions. It’s sacrifices.”_

_“You think I’ve never_ lost _anything?”_

_“I think you’ve never willingly sacrificed anything. They’re two completely different things.”_

_“Screw you, Anderson! I’ve lost plenty!”_

_“Shepard-”_

-Connection terminated by Lieutenant Shepard. –

* * *

 

**Human Colony of Elysium, located within the Skyllian Verge. Date Stamped July, 2176.**

Shepard stood on the edge of one of Elysium’s red-rock cliffs and looked out at the perfect vista that spread below her. She was trying to recapture some of her earlier mood, the quiet, satisfied joy of learning she was going to be one of a select few N5s admitted into fast track training for N7, the feeling of pride in her accomplishments, the feeling that all of her work over the past few years had been recognised and rewarded. The news was soured, though, by her vidcall with Anderson, by his inscrutable need to try and quell the speed at which she raced up the military ranks, even as it was his influence that had put her in the military to start with. She looked out to the planet’s North, to where the sun was just starting to crack over the trees, and couldn’t quite quell the slightly _wrong_ feeling of her body telling her that the sun was supposed to blaze from East to West over a planet even as the trees blazed orange in the opening act of the dawn.

It was like a sea on fire, beautiful and primal, and not the soothing balm on her stinging pride that she had hoped it would be.

 _How dare he?_ She kept asking herself, in various tones of annoyance and anger. _How dare he say I’ve never lost anything in my life?_ The very first thing that had happened to her in her life – before she’d even pulled her first breath – was the death of her mother, and it was only the quick thinking of an asari hiding out on Earth from something Shepard had never asked her about that had resulted in Shepard even being alive at all. Then there’d been all the kids she hadn’t been able to save on Earth, the ones that (despite her warnings) had fallen fully in with Bolder, with drugs and booze and pretty blue dancers, junkies before they hit twelve years old, dead before they saw thirteen. Each of those kids had pulled at Shepard, baited her, told her that if she’d been a little better, a little faster, a little cleverer, she might have just saved them. And Anderson wanted her to believe she’d never felt any sort of _loss_?

Of course, there’d also been Anderson’s own damn mission – the one he gave her in a police lockup that sent her into the most dangerous period of her life to date, pitting wits against a man much older and stronger and more influential than she’d ever hoped to be at the time, dancing a deadly two-step of subterfuge, taking risks with her life that she hadn’t even considered possible before she met the good Captain. She traded her entire life to the military in payment for that – had to leave her entire world behind in favour of learning how to shoot, climb and hide, everyone she’d ever loved being left in Boston while she grabbed the few kids she could take and raced an angry drug-lord to Vancouver and the relative safety of a military base. She’d needed every skill at deception she’d ever had on that run, and it still hadn’t been enough, had it? She still had left one body behind, going cold in the sun only a few kilometres away from the Vancouver base.

Oh, if only Peter could see her now, he’d –

But he couldn’t see her now. He was dead.

She scowled as she forced visions of his broken body away from the forefront of her mind – she was on vacation and the sun was rolling over the trees in a way that lit the morning on fire. But a dour mood had caught her and was holding fast, as a nasty voice in her head pointed out that sure, while she’d _lost_ a hell of a lot in her short life, that wasn’t nearly the same thing as _sacrifice_ , now, was it?

She glared at the trees in front of her.

“Now, now, pretty thing, what have those trees ever done to you?”

Her scowl deepened, but she didn’t turn to face the person who had spoken. “Not in the mood, Jeffries.”

“I’d noticed that.” Private Elijah Jeffires replied. “That’s why I thought I’d come over, try and cheer you up a bit.”

“Piss off.”

He stepped up next to her on the cliff face, looking out over the same view. “Anderson didn’t take the news well, I’m guessing?”

“I said _piss off_ , Jeffries.”

“Temper, babe.”

She turned to glare at him, scowl morphing into a snarl as her hands came up defensively, folding over her chest. Jeffries didn’t seem at all put out, stance casual, satisfied smirk flickering over his features.

She had never wanted to hit someone more in her _life_ , but she couldn’t decide if he’d be worth the struggle of the paperwork afterward. Instead, she bit the inside of her lip for a moment, took a breath to cool her temper and ground out, “Call me babe again, and I’ll break your jaw.”

“But darling, you’re so beautiful when you’re angry.” He said, mouth quirking into a cocksure smirk.

“I can also snap a femur in seven different ways, Jeffries.” She snarled. “Want me to see how many I can manage at once?”

He tilted his head at her playfully, and despite herself, Shepard felt her mood start to leech away. He was an ass, it was true, but there was a certain solid confidence in the fact that she could _rely_ on him to _be_ an ass, to direct her ire away from things she couldn’t hit toward a subject that she – well, she couldn’t _actually_ hit Jeffries, but it was nice to imagine. He met her stare with a playful smile that centred around his eyes – a dizzying blue that Shepard probably would have been very willing to lose herself in had the personality behind them been anything other than what it was. Hell, Jeffries as a whole would have been damn gorgeous if his personality was anything less than what it was.

“Now Shepard,” He said, tone playfully lecturing, “You know those Jedi mind tricks don’t work on me. I’m N5 too, remember?”

(He also had an incurable love of Old Earth science fiction which positively baffled Shepard – why would anyone be so interested in made up aliens when the real things were only a shuttle trip away?)

She scowled at him, but she couldn’t quite feel the ire that had held her a moment before. “Boston taught me to fight dirty long before the Alliance taught you to fight clean. I’m damn sure it’d be easy enough to disable you before I tried to break your legs.”

“You and your sweet nothings, Shep. I’m swooning!” He mimed it, for dramatic effect.

“I’m going to kill you one day.” She’d tried to sound angry, it came out as more of a rueful chuckle.

She turned her attention back to the sunrise. On the eastern edge of the horizon, a cloud was forming, taking up the rosy hue of the sun that was now fading into green in the forest below them.

“Now,” Said Jeffries, “My sincerest congratulations to the great Captain Anderson for getting you hotter than an asari whore house this morning, but Shep, really, what did he actually say to you about N7?”

“I grew up in an asari whore house, Jeffries, they’re not nearly as hot as you might think.”

“And that’s Shepard Speak for ‘she’s not going to tell me.’”

“Busy,” Shepard continued, as if he hadn’t spoken, “ _Lots_ of people running around, grudges that last decades. Not all that hot though.”

“So why aren’t you going to tell me?”

She shrugged. “Because it’s none of your damn business?”

The cloud was moving, spreading over the horizon like liquid fire.

“Now, that hurts me, Shep.” Jeffries said, trying and failing to sound put out. “Here I am, only one of a handful of other military people in this colony, here sharing your shore leave by little more than a gift of providence (and my own excellent planning) and you won’t even tell me the tiniest little bit of your very real troubles.”

 _Wait a minute –_ Shepard’s eyes narrowed.

Shepard looked at the cloud, spreading slowly across the sky, trying to figure out why it had made something tingle at the back of her mind, why it suddenly felt _wrong_ to her on levels that things like clouds normally wouldn’t stir. She thought back desperately to what she knew of Elysium, of the tourist vids she’d watched before coming planetside, what she’d learnt in order to make her stay as comfortable as possible.

 _Elysium,_ Her mind supplied, _Small, human colony on the fringes of the Terminus. Surprisingly peaceful, no significant natural predators. A suitable candidate for settlement, took well to original terraforming initiatives. Weather patterns near the coast of the main Eastern continent move West to East along the planet’s latitude lines._

_Hang on –_

“It’d lighten your burden to talk to someone, you know, and I can be _very –_ ”

“Jeffries, shut up a minute.”

She ignored the offended noise that the man made in favour of looking more carefully at the cloud. It shouldn’t have been spreading across the sky the way it was, it should have been _receding_. And now that she was looking at it, it was very low to the trees to be the kind of weather pattern that this colony got – so near to the coast, mists might form at night, but never in the early morning. They were burnt away by the dawn light. And the sun, moving steadily upwards, was leeching colour away from it, leaving it a small grey strip on the horizon instead of –

“Hey, Shep? I’m sure the cloud is fascinating and all, but does it really require that much of your attention?”

She swore. “That’s not a cloud, Jeffries.” She spun on her heel, taking off at a run. Jeffries let out a startled yelp and broke into a run a beat after her, catching up and matching her step.

“What? Shep, what – what’s wrong? Damn it, Shepard, slow down!”

She whirled on him, fear in her guts and fire in her eyes. “That’s not a damn cloud at all, Jeff. That’s _smoke_.”

He paled. “Shit.”

This time, when she broke into a sprint, he didn’t argue. He just kept pace with her as well as he was able.

* * *

 

“ _Mayday, mayday, mayday_. This is the human colony of Elysium requesting immediate assistance.”

Prefabs made for _shit_ cover. A bullet slammed into the wall above Shepard’s head as she frantically gestured to the small mother-son family to get _down_ , dammit! She fiddled for a moment with the settings of the communication unit, trying to drown out the terrified screams that she could hear coming from other prefabs on the edge of the settlement. Her omnitool burnt orange as she overclocked it, trying to boost the limited range of the communications unit as much as she was able to. Jeffries, near the window, growled as he let off another burst of fire from his assault rifle, the outdated Lancer was all he’d thought to bring with him on his trip down to this stupid rock.

Not that Shepard fared much better – the Naginata she had was something she used for _sport_ shooting and target practice, not for actual combat scenarios, and her pistol would probably do much more damage if she threw it, than if she tried to fire the damn thing.

“ _Mayday, mayday, mayday._ ” Shepard said again into the communicator, gritting her teeth against the small, frightened whimpers that the mother of their little unit was making, and against the packets of static bursting in her ears. “Is anyone on this frequency? _Mayday, mayday, mayday!_ ”

The boy, barely older than Peter had been when he – _barely older than Peter_ \- was clinging to his mother, silent tears of terror streaming down his face, clothing bloodied from a superficial wound along his arm. Shepard felt her voice shake for a moment, and steeled herself against her own flooding emotions, looking away from him and towards the _stupidly large and unreinforced_ window of the prefab.

“ _Mayday, mayday, mayday._ ” She said again, “This is the human colony of Elysium, requesting immediate assistance.” There was another blast of static in her ear, before, tinnily, crackly, a voice came back over the comm.

“Alliance SSV Agincourt responds.” Said a slightly nasally, weedy voice on the other end of the line, but for all Shepard knew, it could have been the voice of the angels in Heaven and she couldn’t have loved the sound of it more.

“Fucking finally.” She said, under her breath, flinching a little at the scowl that the mother of the family sent her way. _Oh, for – she’s scared out of her mind but still wants to scold me for swearing in front of her precious baby? I bet he says worse at school._

Shepard recognised the edge of hysteria in her thoughts and pushed it away as much as she could, focusing instead on outward calm as she said into the radio, “Reading you, Agincourt, and can I say that I’m overjoyed to be hearing your voice.”

“We’ve registered your Mayday, Elysium, and are standing by to assist.” The communications officer on the other side of the line said. He sounded middle aged, Shepard imagined a man with a bald spot and a face relaxing into wrinkles a day at a time. A bullet whizzed past her head, bringing with it enough clarity to force away the distracting thought.

“Agincourt, we are under attack by unknown assailants, repeat: the assailants are unknown. We believe them to be raiders, moderately to well equipped.” Another bullet whizzed above her head to punctuate the statement. “Jeffries, can you _do_ something about that please?”

The marine obliged, letting off a barrage of fire. Somewhere outside the prefab was a sound like a yelp that cut off into a gurgle. Jeffries shouted several words in celebration that Shepard was certain Ma Kettle wouldn’t want her precious baby boy to be repeating.

“Agincourt is coming to assist, Elysium, best ETA is five hours. You think you can hold off until then?”

“Going to have to try, now, aren’t I?” She replied through gritted teeth. “Military presence is minimal, but we’ll do our best.”

The man on the other end of the line didn’t offer false reassurances or unnecessary sympathy. Shepard loved him a little for that. “Send us your co-ordinates and try to gather everyone in one place.” He said, instead. “We’ll see you ASAP.”

“Sending the co-ordinates now.” She replied. “Elysium out.” She switched off the comm, powering down her overclocked ‘tool, and grateful that there was no longer a bright orange glow announcing her position to any raiders that were looking for it. In the buildings around them, the screams were ebbing away as the raiders moved on – anyone in the local area must have already been taken or would have retreated back to another position, something that Shepard herself was willing to do.

There was the telltale hiss of a bullet, then Jeffries let out a sharp cry of pain. Shepard spun towards him.

His eyes were narrowed in agony, but he smiled at her. “’M okay, Shep. Just winged me.”

To prove his point, he let off a few more shots through the window.

He ducked back into cover. “Concussive round.” He clarified, seeing her dubious expression. “Might not be moving very fast for a while after this is over.”

She scowled at him. “Can you move fast enough now?” She asked.

“This much adrenaline in my system, I could probably fly if I had to.”

Despite it all, she smiled at him. “Good man.”

She turned towards the mother and son combo that were huddling together behind the prefab’s lone couch. She darted towards them, staying as low as she could manage. “We need to get somewhere defensible.” She said to the terrified family, “Somewhere that can be fortified enough to slow these a – ” She caught herself, “The bad guys down. Somewhere big enough to hold the colony, while tight enough that we can protect it from people trying to get in.”

The mother’s mouth opened and closed a few times, but no sound was forthcoming. She shook her head and clutched her son a little tighter to her chest. Shepard quelled her impatience as much as she was able to in the middle of a war zone, reminding herself that the woman was just a civilian, that she hadn’t ever been trained to deal with anything like this in her life. It helped, a little, but she still wanted to call the woman something unrepeatable in pleasant society.

She steeled herself against the urge. Frustration was her enemy right now as much as the raiders outside.

“I know you’re scared.” She said, instead, “I know you don’t want to leave, but we need to get somewhere safer, somewhere I can help everyone survive, not just you and your son.”

To Shepard’s surprise, it was not the mother that answered, but the boy. “What about the school?” He asked, voice barely more than a squeak, “It’s not far from here and there are desks and things to hide under.”

 _And a central atrium or cafeteria and lots of back routes out._ Shepard thought to herself, nodding her assessment.

“That’s a brilliant idea.” She said, smiling with what she hoped was reassurance, “best one I’ve heard all day.” She winked at the boy and though he was obviously still terrified, his face briefly flickered into a pleased grin.

“We can’t move!” Said the mother, finally finding her voice, “They’re shooting everything out there! They’ll kill us!”

Shepard looked her in the eye, and tried to keep a lid on her temper as her patience, already thin, stretched to breaking. “Lady, normally I’d be able to deal with your histrionics, but today? _Not a good day._ ” She scowled, put out her hand and gripped the woman’s shoulder, resisting the urge to give her a little shake. “We need to move. We don’t have any choice. This prefab?” She gestured around them with her free hand, “My buddy and I can hold it for ten, maybe fifteen more minutes _at the most_. Then, we die, or something worse happens to us.”

She glared at the woman. “Are you going to look me in the eye and tell me that you don’t have the courage to save your son’s life?”

It was cruel, and it probably made the woman hate her, but one look into her face told Shepard that it had _worked._

“What do I do?” She asked, with a quiet, dignified strength.

Shepard nodded. “Take us to the school. Through places we’re not out in the open.” She let her features relax into something more reassuring. “We need to go through buildings, under walkways, down back alleys. The less we’re out in the open, the more chance I have of getting you out of this alive.”

The woman nodded, swallowed, visibly steeled herself. “Follow me.”

* * *

 

The route they took was winding and longer than Shepard would have liked, particularly with Jeffries limping along behind them, wincing every other step. She had taken point, holding her pistol at the ready, wishing (not for the first time) that she had a high perch and a good view. The woman and her son huddled between them, whispering quick directions to Shepard in turn, trying very visibly to hold their terror in check. Her hands gripped her pistol a little tighter as she approached the next corner, peering carefully around it.

“ _Get down._ ” She hissed.

The mother and son darted between a small wall and a rosebush, ducking down tightly in an effort to not be visible. Shepard took the corner of the building, and Jeffries stepped into the darker shadows of the alley that they had just walked along. It was all terrible cover – useful at night, but damn near nothing during the day. Shepard swore under her breath, wishing for anything – a cloud to block out the sun, an eclipse, a damn sudden miracle – to give them a little more darkness, but whatever powers ruled the universe decided to be un-obliging.

Between the two buildings across the way stalked two aliens, creatures with two-too-many eyes and more nostrils than Shepard was able to count. She scowled, gesturing behind her for silence as she watched the batarians pass through, on an obvious patrol.

They were moving with purpose, but weren’t investigating any of the prefab units they passed, implying that they’d already been through this area once before. The doors of the nearby prefabs all looked to have been hacked open, but there was no scorching or bullet marks or blood marring the streets, making Shepard hopeful that the early warning systems in place had worked for the colony and that people had gotten out – gotten _safe_ – before the batarians had arrived.

 _Or they could have just surrendered and not fought._ Said a voice in the back of her mind, _Decided that possible mercy was better than definite destruction._

She ignored the thought as well as she was able. She had to ignore it, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to let the two batarians pass without taking a pot shot at one of them and giving away their position. She could only see two – she didn’t know how many more were hiding in the wings, ready to respond to any sounds they heard.

It took near everything she had to stay in cover and just watch those two batarian bastards round the corner and walk away.

She let out a breath that she didn’t know she’d been holding, more shaky and tense than she’d have liked it to be. She held her position, letting the moment stretch.

“…What – ” Began the mother in a hushed whisper, Shepard held up her hand for silence.

Another batarian stalked through the buildings after his fellows. A rear guard.

_They must still think there’s people they missed._

A little relief and a little hope trickled into Shepard as she watched the final batarian slide away. She nodded. “Move out.”

It was almost eerie, thought Shepard, as she moved through the buildings and skirted courtyards, how very desolate and empty the colony seemed. Had it really just been the night before when she’d been talking about how vibrant and full of life the place was, with people moving about their business like they hadn’t a care in the world?

How swiftly it all could change when things went south. How quickly people holed down and bunkered up, after the initial screaming and running for their lives had passed. At least the evidence pointed to Elysium having an early warning system, having emergency contingencies in place in case the unthinkable happened. She thought of other colonies she’d heard about, places like Mindoir, where there’d been no warning before the slaughter, when people learnt the hard way that just because humanity was now playing nice with the turians, it didn’t mean that all the other races would play nice as well. But if Elysium had been prepared, if there had been plans in place – this story might not end up being tragic. It might go down as a tale of triumph, of resilience more than defeat.

 _Five hours, Shepard._ She reminded herself, _Don’t get ahead of yourself. Even if they are in a shelter, even if they are bunkered down – five hours is a long time for scared, panicky people._

And most wouldn’t respond so well to low blows about their children, either.

Jeffries’ voice was suddenly in her ear, quiet, over her comm. “Credit for your thoughts?”

She looked back at him, over the heads of their civilian companions, took in the worried, pinched look of his face, the way he was wincing with every step now, instead of every other.

“My thoughts are worth a hell lot more than one credit, Jeff.”

“And I’ll be sure to pay you if we live that long.”

Her lips quirked into a mirthless grin. “Funny,” She whispered, with a dry edge, “That was pretty much a summary of my thoughts.”

* * *

 

They weren’t the first people to get to the school.

In one way, that was a very good thing. It meant the people on Elysium had been smart. It meant that they’d been prepared. It meant that they’d seen what happened to other colonies like theirs and they’d learnt from those situations.

But in other ways?

In other ways it was a _bitch_ because Shepard and Jeffries were _outsiders_ , people from offworld, and that people in the colony were less likely to trust them because they were currently being invaded by raiders, also from offworld.

Case in point, the old man standing guard at the back entrance to the school (who was armed with nothing more than an antique baseball bat) who was flatly refusing to let them into sanctuary.

“Look,” Shepard spat, trying and failing to keep her temper, “We’re _Alliance military_ and we’re _injured_ and we have _your own people_ with us. We’re not trying to subvert your command. We’re not trying to sell you out to any raiders. We’re not trying to break in under false pretences. What we _are_ trying to do is get our asses inside so that we can _help_ you.”

“Not buying it, lady. I don’t know you from Eve. You think I’m going to let in someone I don’t know?” He brandished his baseball bat. Shepard resisted the urge to shoot him and be done with it.

“If I was _with them_ ,” she growled, “I’d be doing a lot more than just trying to let you in. Dragging you off to an unmentionable fate springs to mind, as does calling in any potential allies in the area.”

“You think I’m stupid, lady?”

“You’re arguing with a military officer in the middle of a war zone. You don’t want to know what I think.”

“Jim, it’s okay. She’s with us.” The mother stepped forward, hand on her son’s shoulder. Shepard mentally took back every bad thing she’d ever said about the woman.

“She got us here.” The woman continued, and turned to look Shepard in the eye. “She’s a rude cow, but you can trust her.”

…Maybe not every bad thing. Most of them. Some were still left on the list for posterity.

The old man scowled, but he moved out of the way. His hand was still tightly gripped around the baseball bat as Shepard and Jeffries passed. Shepard quelled the urge to say something rude.

Once inside, they moved quickly. The boy directed them down the corridors and towards the cafeteria, Shepard noting that now they were in the school, his mother looked almost as lost as she and Jeffries were. Shepard dropped back behind them now that the danger was passed, noticing the way the boy seemed to brighten when he was on familiar territory, watching relief slowly worm it’s way into the woman’s shoulders.

She looked over at Jeffries. He was pale as a sheet, and his face was pinched and drawn. Some of her concern must of shown on her features, because he smiled.

“Some shore leave, huh?”

There was blood on his teeth.

Shepard felt her expression twist. “Where did you say you were shot again?” She demanded in a harsh whisper. The woman looked back, Shepard waved her on towards the doors at the end of the hall.

Jeffries let out a small huff of laughter, then winced. “I didn’t.” He said. “Concussive round to the back. Might have broken a rib or two.”

“Might have punctured a lung!” Shepard scolded. Now that she was listening for it, she heard the telltale wet rattle of his breathing. “ _Shit_ , Jeffries!”

“We had more pressing concerns at the time.” The other soldier said, trying and failing to sound nonchalant.

Human profanity wasn’t enough. Shepard called him several awful names in asari common.

“Oh, do it again.” He said, “I love it when you talk dirty to me.”

“If you didn’t already have a punctured lung, I’d give you one.” She snapped. “Jeffries, what the fuck – ”

“It wouldn’t have changed anything.” He said, “And you’d have been too cautious, too worried about hurting me if you knew. Might’ve decided to stay in that damn prefab.”

“Damn right I would have - ”

“Excuse me?” Said a small voice somewhere below her angry glare. She blinked and looked down.

The boy was looking up at her, a worried twist to his eyebrows, chewing absently on a thumbnail. “The cafeteria’s through those doors up ahead.” He said, cringing slightly like he thought he’d get into trouble for interrupting.

Shepard schooled her expression into something a little more reassuring before she knelt in front of the boy. “Good man.” She said, swallowing her annoyance with Jeffries for the time being. “You were very brave today, you know that?”

The boy smiled a little.

She forced a grin back. “Hey, look.” She said, hitting upon an idea that would help the kid feel useful, “Can you do me a big favour?”

The boy’s expression turned uncertain, and he looked back to his mother. After a moment of hesitation, she nodded, and he looked back. He repeated the action.

Shepard ruffled his hair. “Good man.” She leaned in like she was telling him a secret, he copied the gesture. “My friend there, the one that came with us? He needs a nurse. I was wondering if you could show him where to go to find one?”

The boy’s expression fell. “He got hurt because he helped us, didn’t he?”

Shepard shook her head. “No.” She replied, “That’s not it at all.” She dropped her voice to a stage whisper. “Between you and me? He did it because he’s a big old stupid head who doesn’t know how to get into cover.”

“Hey!”

“Just calling them like I see them, Jeffries.”

The kid laughed a little at that and Shepard considered it a victory. “Okay.” He said, “I can get him to a nurse.”

“Good man.”

She turned to Jeffries. “You, don’t think I’m done ripping you a new one yet. Get your ass moving and follow the kid for now, but we are going to have words later.”

Jeffries winked at her. “I’m looking forward to it, Shep.” He said, limping off after the kid.

Shepard stood and after a beat she followed them into the hall, watching them disappear into a significant crowd of people. Forty, maybe fifty milled about the cafeteria, loosely divided into groups of friends and family units, clustered close together and looking terrified. There were kids – a lot of kids – though Shepard supposed that made sense because a school was definitely a place that a child would think to go in a crisis. There didn’t seem to be any other military faces in the crowd, though whether it was because they were already captured or dead, or hiding out somewhere else, Shepard couldn’t say.

The woman who had made the run through the colony with them stepped up to her other side, eyes taking in the same sight as Shepard, but probably seeing friends and community members where Shepard just saw scared civilians.

“How many children do you have?” The woman asked, her tone one of someone desperate for distraction.

Shepard blinked. “None.” She couldn’t quite keep the surprise from her voice. “Why – ”

“You’re good with them.” The woman said, “I’m sorry – I just assumed that…”

Shepard shook her head. “I grew up the oldest of a bunch of kids without a home. I won’t bore you with the details.”

“I suppose that would explain it.” Her eyes flickered over the hall, taking in every person in the room, every child that clung to an adult’s hand, took in the pale faces and wide, terrified eyes. Her tone turned desperate as she spoke. “What are we going to do? They’re destroying my home.”

Shepard felt her expression go hard, unforgiving. “We’re going to regroup.” She said, “We’re going to come up with a plan, and we’re going to kick these bastards off your planet.”

She had never meant something more in her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited first part so that it flows better. As much as I loved Shepard being an impertinent little shit and annoying Anderson via Omnitool, the style just looks messy and disjointed, and the vidcall could be condensed into one call, rather than two and a series of messages.


End file.
